Lightweight 5 MPH bumpers

[vette427-sbc]

Looking to drop some more weight off my car and Ive been trying to figure out a way to safely make my steel bumpers out of something much lighter.
I am looking to design a factory looking bumper made out of some lightweight material that would be able to withstand a mild parking lot tap to protect the body from damage as much as possible. I was thinking of some kind of honeycomb maybe?
Any ideas or technical info on retaining whatever safety was designed into these bumpers while dropping weight with modern materials would be great!
I think this could apply to alot of the chrome bumper cars on here, not just corvettes

[vette427-sbc]

I was hoping this could stay in the advanced tech. forum to discuss the engineering behind the factory bumpers and what could be done to retain this using different materials... Ill make a thread in paint and body when Im ready to prep them for body work :lmao:

[67goatman455]

if you can figure out how to make them out of aluminum that would be the best..... but i'm not sure how you would accomplish that.

[nekkidhillbilly]

3d scan and cnc mill......................prob some high dollar bumpers that wouldnt shave more than 20 lbs

[Munssey]

You could go carbon fiber with a honeycomb compost behind it. There's a combo filler material that makes it tough as nails.

I'd suggest start with fiberglass with a composit honeycomb behind it to see if that does it for ya before heading to a carbon outter. The weight difference won't hurt too much compared to the pocket book.

That's AN option to consider.

Hope that helps!

[NOT A TA]

Factory bumpers tie the front frame horns on most chrome bumper cars. During an impact a lot of force is absorbed by the bending of the bumper and the frame sections before the core support and front of the engine takes a hit. I've had fiberglass bumpers on street cars and was always concerned about an accident that might slam the engine through the firewall.

The car below had a glass bumper & hood along with factory glass header and valance panels. If there was ever a front end collision there wasn't much left to absorb the impact. Was a light car though!

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2007/12/MVC021F-1.jpg (http://s240.photobucket.com/user/NOTATA/media/74%20CAMARO/MVC-021F.jpg.html)

[vette427-sbc]

3d scan and cnc mill......................prob some high dollar bumpers that wouldnt shave more than 20 lbs

If you did a lb per $ comparison im sure its not far from many of the other lightweight replacement parts out there :rolleyes: 20 lbs is alot!


You could go carbon fiber with a honeycomb compost behind it. There's a combo filler material that makes it tough as nails.

I'd suggest start with fiberglass with a composit honeycomb behind it to see if that does it for ya before heading to a carbon outter. The weight difference won't hurt too much compared to the pocket book.

That's AN option to consider.


Hope that helps!
Thats the option I was thinking as well... If you had any leads on where to get a composite honeycomb and how to attach it to the 'glass that would be great!


Factory bumpers tie the front frame horns on most chrome bumper cars. During an impact a lot of force is absorbed by the bending of the bumper and the frame sections before the core support and front of the engine takes a hit. I've had fiberglass bumpers on street cars and was always concerned about an accident that might slam the engine through the firewall.

The car below had a glass bumper & hood along with factory glass header and valance panels. If there was ever a front end collision there wasn't much left to absorb the impact. Was a light car though!

That makes sense for the front, but I have a split rear bumper so Im hoping I might be able to get a similar force vector on the bracketry with the composite bumpers.


Thanks for the ideas and info everyone! keep it coming!